PROJECT SUMMARY - PROTEOMICS AND MASS SPECTROMETRY CORE This National Eye Instituted-funded Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry Core has the long-term objective of using the very latest technologies in the field of proteomics to discover the causes of eye disease, including cataract, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and devise better treatments. Mass spectrometric analysis of proteins will be performed with the specific aims of measuring changes in the abundance of proteins, how proteins fold and interact with one another, and how they become modified in both health and disease. The methods employed will include hydrogen-deuterium exchange to measure solvent accessibility in proteins, chemical cross-linking to define where proteins interact, tandem mass tagging to detect proteins undergoing changes in abundance, and phosphopeptide analysis to discover mechanisms controlling cellular processes. The proposed studies will take advantage of a newly installed state-of-the-art high-resolution mass spectrometer. The results will complement data generated by the other modules supported by this P30 grant to increase the productivity of vision researchers at OHSU and devise better treatments for eye disease.